Taxi drivers recently met to discuss the new taxi meters
The ‘evil day’ will come when all taxis in Fermanagh will have to have meters fitted and used, according to a leading taxi firm in Enniskillen.
Speaking after a meeting between taxi drivers and operators and the Department of Infrastructure in Enniskillen, Peter Hoy of Flexi Cabs, said there had been a huge reaction to since some meters had been introduced.
He estimates that business has dropped by between 10 and 15 per cent since the introduction of the meters.
“We have had a dry spell of weather where people have been walking into town more and that may account for the drop. But it’s just hard to know, but we’ll see in a few weeks when the weather changes. There may be a pick up then,” he said.
“But I have no doubt that at the minute business would be down. It’s on everybody’s lips. If you go into the corner shop to buy a paper people who use taxis regularly are chatting among each other about the meters and the price.
“But we have to put them in. We have to use them by law. If we are stopped by the Department there is a fixed penalty if you are found not to be using the meter,” he stressed.
Earlier this year the Department of Infrastructure carried an advert, “If it’s not on it, don’t get in it,” advising people to use only taxis with a meter.
But Mr Hoy claims that travelling people have the ‘life scared out of them’ by the taxi meters.
“If you live outside the town you think you are going to be charged an awful price. And if you are outside the town the price is going to increase, but with the meters we’re using at the moment there is a tariff which is set by the Department.
“But we have put in a tariff which relates to a rural town like Enniskillen. It’s a lower tariff, but even with that you are talking about an increase of maybe 25 per cent for an out of town run on a Saturday night,” he explained.
“The town runs themselves will see very little change, but whatever comes up on the meter you cannot by law charge anything above that amount, but you can negotiate a price below that,” he added
Bar manager at Blakes of the Hollow in Enniskillen, Mark Edwards, says that people are certainly more conscious when out for an evening.
“Customers are certainly more conscious about the end of the night and pre-book taxis a lot more, making sure they get collected. Saturday night is always very busy and if there are functions on out of town then it is even more difficult to get a taxi.
“This whole taxi thing is certainly making people think more about going out for a night and getting home again,” said Mr Edwards.
Several local taxi firms have delayed bring the new tariffs into use until December. Mr Hoy believes all taxis will have to have them in operation by then and says, “There will just be no way around it. Our backs are against the wall because they have to be put in.”
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